𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧. - 𝙍𝙌/𝙎𝙇 𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 ✔︎

☹︎ 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙚 ☹︎

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮-

𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙞𝙩. 𝙄 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙-

𝙃𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮 𝙄𝙜-

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱: 𝟭𝟬/𝟵/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀

𝗔𝗨: 𝗡𝗼𝗻𝗲

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 (𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 𝟱𝟯𝟴

『••✎••』

"Colle..."

No...

"Face us, Colle."

Stop...

"Don't ignore us, Colle."

Leave me alone...

"You failed us."

Not true..

"You let others die for selfish reasons!"

Shut up.

"If you never left the Red Kingdom, all of your friends would still be alive!"

"SHUT UP!" I shouted, whirling around to face the voices behind me. But when I did, no one was there; all I could see was the familiar, empty white void I saw almost every night.

I frowned. I knew I heard the voices of my friends just a moment ago: Sharp, Beef, Desert Apprentice, Forest Steve, Goggles, everyone. But no one was there, despite how real the voices were.

I sighed quietly, then looked towards the ground. Like the rest of the void around me, it was white and glowing.

Why do I keep hearing these voices? I asked myself, shutting my eyes. What kind of recurring nightmare is this? What does it even mean?

Before I could try to make up an answer, I opened my eyes to see the void disappearing around me. Looks like I was waking up.

Again.

When I did, sunlight was streaming through my window. Waking up in the Desert Village had become a familiar thing for me; when you were unfairly banished from your home, but had friends in a different place, where else could you stay?

The desert steves didn't mind either, since they had so much vacant space and houses from The Last Inferno. Even if they weren't the...well, brightest type of steve, they made good company, even if they didn't understand half of what I talked about.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as I heard a door close. Around the corner was Alex, a friend who's been staying with me since she entered this world.

She noticed me wake up, and smiled at me. "Morning, Colle."

I sat up, giving a soft groan as I did. "Morning, Alex..."

The girl seemed to notice something was wrong. She made her way over to my bed and sat next to me, concern written across her face.

"Are you feeling okay? You seem pretty down about something."

I looked away. "I've been having this nightmare for the past few weeks. Everyone I know keeps saying I've made more problems than solutions, I'm a failure, and so many hurtful things. I don't know what to do about it..."

Alex sighed, then took my hand into hers before locking eyes with me. "Colle, you are not a failure. And you don't make more problems than solutions. From what you've told me, everything that's happened was out of your control. Don't blame yourself for that."

"And if I actually create a problem and fail to resolve it?" I looked down at my covered legs, sadness and frustration bubbling within me.

"Then we'll find a solution." Alex insisted, turning my head to look at her. "Red Steves are known for their wisdom, correct? We can think of a solution for the problem and fix it. Just don't think so lowly of yourself for me, okay Colle?"

I gave a weak smile. Her words seemed to reassure me a little bit.

"Yeah, okay Alex. Thank you."

She smiled.

"No problem, Colle."